LATE LLANDOVERY THELODONTS AND CONODONTS FROM THE KILBRIDE FORMATION,CO GALWAY, WESTERN IRELAND

Acid etching of a calcareous sandstone horizon within the lower part o f the upper Llandovery Kilbride Formation, exposed at Coolin Lough, Co . Galway, has yielded a phosphatic microfauna dominated by conodont el ements and thelodont scales. The thelodonts are identified as Loganell ia ex gr. scotica and provide the first record of fishes from the Lowe r Silurian of Ireland; they suggest a Telychian age. The conodont faun a is dominated by Icriodella, indicative of a nearshore environment of deposition. The microfossils were extracted from a shell bed packed w ith Eocoelia curtisi curtisi Ziegler, confirming a late Telychian age and also suggesting a shallow water depositional environment. This fau na developed marginal to Laurentia and is similar to coeval assemblage s from the Anglo-Welsh area and Baltoscandia. (C) 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.